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I have had no less then 6 different interactions recently where people have been boasting, bragging that "their NP has gotten then Doctorate"

some of these include

1) a local practice in which the Doc was bragging that their NP had their doctorate

2) local np's bragging that they now are doctors

3) local PA stating that his wife "has a doctorate"

Then I look in the paper and see new practices (PT and Audiology) in which they talk about their DOCTORS - yup PT and Audiologist

I am dismayed - some of these are newer grads, and are elevating themselves ABOVE a highly experienced PA's and NP's purely on the grounds of clinical degree (even if the PA degree is FAR harder then the online DNP degree a lot of them are touting...)

10 years ago I predicted this was going to happen, and now it is happening.

The lay person has not a prayer of realizing the difference and the only thing PA's can do is get a doctorate to not get left behind.....

Annoyed this is necessary, but how is the fastest cheapest way to get a DMS or other doctorate??

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Didn't this happen over 10 years ago with the Masters? It's ALL degree creep! yes I know I have a masters and admittedly I got it simply for "parity" which is why I was considering the DMS at Lynchburg. The masters is no longer on par with my peers. Most NPs I work with has or is getting a DNP. Most of them have told me they hated having to get it and see it for what it is and they don't tote it like they are superior but they know time will catch up to them and they would have "needed" one eventually.

I think as PAs, we are by nature in a way, opposed internally to degree creep. Let's face all PA programs whether it be a cert, AS, BS, MS is pretty much the same program and gives/gave us 99.99% (not a real Stat lol) of our education, training, competence etc.

The Masters program that I did expanded on that some. Could I have skipped it, sure but again for parity's sake I see the (forced) need for it now.

The same thing will hold true for the doctorate but I was hoping it would decades down the road. It's really coming up on the horizon fast and I think as more DMS programs come up, there's no stopping it. The market will be flooded in the next few/several years with new grad DMS, DSCPAS, DHSc etc PA's and job recruiters who aren't "in the know" will preferably hire them over a "merely" masters trained PA.

I decided against getting a Doctorate but if it starts looking like I'm the only one in my dept without one or is not pursuing one, sigh, I may have to shell out 15k for more window dressing.

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The only people who benefit from this is the colleges, who can spend $20K for an IT guy to set up a website, $120K/year for two "professors", and the charge $30-$60K/year for a hundred students a year to get an online doctorate. PTs are now coming out of school with $200K in debt and only making $80K/year. Same thing with Pharm, DNPs, etc.

The janitor might have a doctorate too, doesn't mean he should present himself to patients as a doctor. If a DNP ever presents herself to my patient as a "doctor", I will quickly point out that she isn't a real "Doctor of medicine" but rather a doctor of nursing.

I don't see me needing it anytime soon, hopefully not before I retire in 10 years. HIGHLY doubt I'll ever want to get a doctorate, but if I do I hope someone has set up a really cheap one for us.

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ATSU is also in the process of developing a DMSc. Both Lynchburg and ATSU can be done in a year. Both have excellent, well-known faculty members. I am sure either would meet the needs of any PA who feels the need to acquire a doctorate.

During the 17-month program, students are required to travel to campus two separate weeks. During the on-campus component, students will receive hands-on ultrasound and radiology training, participate in high yield medical seminars, and present their research projects and more.

The Doctor of Health Sciences (DHSc) online program consists of 70 credit-hours of study. Most courses are three credit hours, a few are five credit hours, and the Winter Institute is six credit hours. There are additional fees for books, reference materials, Winter Institute travel, and accommodations.

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ATSU is also in the process of developing a DMSc. Both Lynchburg and ATSU can be done in a year. Both have excellent, well-known faculty members. I am sure either would meet the needs of any PA who feels the need to acquire a doctorate.

I think ATSU is 2 years. Lynchburg is 12 mos.

If I were to do one I would pick LMU (Lincoln Memorial) just for the more interesting (to me) courses offered. Have no desire for Leadership and education tracks are useless because I can teach with the other tracks.

Mass College of Pharmacy is a non starter for me simply because of the name of the degree. Lol shallow I know but again, all this is window dressing so might as well go with the one with the best name!

During the 17-month program, students are required to travel to campus two separate weeks. During the on-campus component, students will receive hands-on ultrasound and radiology training, participate in high yield medical seminars, and present their research projects and more.

The Doctor of Health Sciences (DHSc) online program consists of 70 credit-hours of study. Most courses are three credit hours, a few are five credit hours, and the Winter Institute is six credit hours. There are additional fees for books, reference materials, Winter Institute travel, and accommodations.

Looks like about $40,000

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Lincoln's DMS looks the most "fun" to me lol. 17 months ain't bad. I don't know why so many ppl here dislikes (or at least seems to) this DMS program. As far as DMS programs go its the (again my opinion) the most interesting. It would have been kinda cool if they got the license part through legislation but since that died, this with OTP seems like the best (again MY opinion) upward movement for us PAs that is until we hit the glass ceiling again because we aren't physicians.

Ahh gotcha. Dr. Danielsen is a great PA educator and advocate by the way. He is the dean of the PA school at ATSU and I got to chat with him some at my graduation. I was actually looking forward to ATSU's DMS program (heard about plans for it from a professor about 4 years ago) but I wished it went more the LMU route. But ATSU has top notch professors/faculty and Linda Wheeler (manager of the PA programs) is an awesome person and the whole school was very much interested in the success of their students. I had to take a sabbatical for health reasons during my MS program but they made a way for me to graduate on time. Anyway I digress...

At least we have a bunch of options for those so inclined to get a Doctorate.

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Ahh gotcha. Dr. Danielsen is a great PA educator and advocate by the way. He is the dean of the PA school at ATSU and I gut to chat with him some at my graduation. I was actually looking forward to ATSU's DMS program (heard about plans for it from a professor about 4 years ago) but I wished it went more the LMU route. But at least we have a bj ch of options for those so inclined to get a Doctorate.

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probably more options every year. I heard nebraska and others are working on bridge programs too.

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As a result of the change in professional title requested for years by your state professional organization, and recently approved by us, your friendly state medical board; we are going to require you to complete an approved bridge program that corresponds to the new professional title since we can no longer accept licensure applications/renewals from providers listed under the previous professional title, "Physician Assistant", whose degree states some variant of same. We have worked diligently with your local universities who have agreed to assist us with this new bridge requirement, and as a result of this mandated change, they have agreed to do so at the discounted rate of $10K over the next twelve months (prices will increase to $15K after this courtesy grace period). In an attempt to respect the time you spend providing quality healthcare to our residents, we have limited the amount of time required to complete this task. At present time we are mandating completion of a one hour multiple choice, open book test, to complete this requirement, or else you may watch one episode of Grey's Anatomy."